As Ever: The Collected Correspondence of Allen Ginsberg & Neal Cassady

by Barry Gifford (Editor), Allen Ginsberg (Contributor), Neal Cassady (Contributor)

Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Personal_correspondence, Beat Generation

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

227 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1977

About the author

Barry Gifford is an American author, poet, and screenwriter known for his distinctive mix of American landscapes and film noir- and Beat Generation-influenced literary madness.

He is described by Patrick Beach as being "like if John Updike had an evil twin that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and wrote funny..."He is best known for his series of novels about Sailor and Lula, two sex-driven, star-crossed protagonists on the road. The first of the series, Wild at Heart, was adapted by director David Lynch for the 1990 film of the same title. Gifford went on to write the screenplay for Lost Highway with Lynch. Much of Gifford's work is nonfiction.

Reviews

[Nate Jordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once my thesis is complete, I will be reading this - it's out-of-print but I found a good copy from alibris.com.

4/7/08 - Couldn't wait to complete the thesis - needed a break from the research. I'm surprised this book is out-of-print - a vital collection of Beat letters. This collection is much more graphic than subsequent collections that have been published.

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my to-read list since around 2012. Finally, 14 years later I pick it up and give it a try. And I'm glad I did.

The very early letters between Ginsberg and Cassady in the 1940s are not so interesting. Neither of them has yet to find his 'voice.'
However, Cassady's letters in the early 50s are superb and Ginsberg's letters from his travels in Mexico around 1954 are beautifully and descriptively written.

As some other reviewers have pointed out, there are some saucy letters between Ginsberg and the bi-curious Cassady here which were left out of the so-called Collected Letters compiled by Carolyn Cassady. Someone really needs to put out a complete 'Collected Letters' of Cassady which includes the full Joan Anderson Letter (since it has now been discovered), these letters to Ginsberg and the letters from prison (collected in Grace Beats Karma). Or, alternatively, if you have this volume, the Collected, Grace Beats Karma, and the separately published Joan Anderson Letter (the one that inspired Kerouac to develop his spontaneous prose method), then you have pretty much most of them.

It's a real pity Neal didn't work harder on his writing because if his letters are any indication to go by, the man had talent.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects letters between Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and his friend and sometimes lover Neal Cassady, real-life inspiration for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's On the Road, and author of, among other things, "The Joan Anderson Letter," a letter of 16 or more pages from Cassady to Kerouac, written in a free and improvisatory style that Kerouac later cited as a model for the sort of "spontaneous prose" he (Kerouac) employed in his own novels. It has been years since I read this, but I have kept my copy of it, so although I am not planning on rereading it at this time, I like having that option open to me. Too many other things I would want to read (or reread) first. If you are interested in Cassady or Ginsberg or the Beat Generation in general, go ahead and try this.

Acquired Oct 15, 1987
The Word, Montreal, Quebec

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got obsessed with the Beats in my teens and early 20s. I was fascinated by why Neal Cassady was so fascinating to both Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. When I finished, my journal entry from that time says it was good but "kind of depressing."

[Russell Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have to be into this whole beatnik scene and a fan of the Kerouac crowd to care about this at all. Also, I should issue a homophobe alert... :)

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual with reading a book of letters not all are interesting. Overall, interesting to read knowing the histories of the persons writing. Second book I was able to finish post-Eaton Fire. Other books read this year were for class and not worth mentioning.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great collection of letters, primarily between Allen and Neal. They certain didn't respect women very much.

[Gautsho]

Biitnikest ei saa mul iial villand.